The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal first reported Knight's resignation after he met Monday morning with Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers. Knight's son, Pat, who is in his seventh season with the Texas Tech program, will reportedly take over as the head coach.

The 67-year-old Knight has 902 career victories and 371 losses. The Red Raiders are 12-8 this season, the elder Knight's seventh at Texas Tech.

Knight won three NCAA titles in his 29 seasons at Indiana and also spent six years at Army.

I never thought he would resign like this. He should of stuck it out to the end of the season, unless he has some sort of health problem or something. I see why he resigned, he isn't getting quality recruits down in dry land, he can't stand not making the tournament and he knows it's not his fault and most of all; the game is changing to street ball, faster and faster every year.

indygeezer

02-04-2008, 08:55 PM

Maybe they'll bring him in to clean up the IU program.

(if'n ya can't tell...I'm drinking my Jim Beam)

Elgin56

02-04-2008, 09:02 PM

Maybe he will lay back and wait for an opening this spring when a lot of coaches are fired. It would be great to see him back at a real basketball college instead of a outpost in Texas.

aceace

02-04-2008, 09:12 PM

I have a feeling that its health related. (hope I'm wrong) He got sick at the "great alaska shootout" this year. Then missed a week after returning home.

indygeezer

02-04-2008, 09:16 PM

I have a feeling that its health related. (hope I'm wrong) He got sick at the "great alaska shootout" this year. Then missed a week after returning home.

yeah, I wasn't mentioning that. I will admit..........I have always been a Knight apologist...even tho I found him embarrassing at times.

Bball

02-04-2008, 09:28 PM

...Guess the mythical IU vs TT NCAA Tourney matchup will never happen now (or has certainly lost much of it's meaning if it ever does).

Since I hadn't heard of any Knight shenagins recently, my first thought seeing this news is "health related".

-Bball

aceace

02-04-2008, 09:34 PM

Digger Phelps just said: He called Karen Knight and she said that his health was fine. Digger believed he stepped down to protect Patrick Knight by giving him the job mid-season. By Patrick being named Coach now it would make an easier transition. It would prevent the (new) administration from opening up the job if he resigned at seasons end.

Shade

02-04-2008, 09:47 PM

I'm pretty sure he did this to ensure that Pat would get a chance to take over the reins.

Bball

02-04-2008, 09:50 PM

Digger Phelps just said: He called Karen Knight and she said that his health was fine. Digger believed he stepped down to protect Patrick Knight by giving him the job mid-season. By Patrick being named Coach now it would make an easier transition. It would prevent the (new) administration from opening up the job if he resigned at seasons end.

Was it already known this was Knight's last season? Were there rumblings in Texas that Knight 'only' getting 12-8 out of this team wasn't good enough? I didn't know Knight was games away from coaching his last game so to quit midseason seems out of character.

I suppose I understand the thinking, it does give Patrick a couple of months to show what he can do BUT TT can still move on this spring if they are so inclined. I thought there was already a transition contract in place giving the job to Patrick when Bob moved on anyway (if so I don't know why Knight would feel this was needed).

I guess Patrick better pass this audition, huh?

I still think there could be more to the story....

-Bball

Shade

02-04-2008, 09:54 PM

Knight would sure look good in a Patriots sweater... :D

indygeezer

02-04-2008, 09:56 PM

Knight would sure look good in a Patriots sweater... :D

just feed me battery acid and shoot me while hanging upside down over an alligator pit.

Bball

02-04-2008, 10:18 PM

I'm pretty sure he did this to ensure that Pat would get a chance to take over the reins.

Should be a dream basketball gig for Pat....

Oh wait.... nevermind...

-Bball

Bball

02-04-2008, 10:33 PM

More info here:

http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_8166124

ironore1288

02-04-2008, 11:46 PM

Can someone post the text verbatum of the story Digger Phelps just told about Bob Knight on 11:00 PM ET 2/4/08 verison of sportscenter. I only caught part of it about Ewing I assume it was patrick Ewing and I'm guessing it was during Olympic practice but not sure...something about how Iba, Thompson and maybe Phelps were involved...Knight chewing out someone...it sounded like a classic..hopefully its replayed later tonight.

Bball

02-05-2008, 12:11 AM

Can someone post the text verbatum of the story Digger Phelps just told about Bob Knight on 11:00 PM ET 2/4/08 verison of sportscenter. I only caught part of it about Ewing I assume it was patrick Ewing and I'm guessing it was during Olympic practice but not sure...something about how Iba, Thompson and maybe Phelps were involved...Knight chewing out someone...it sounded like a classic..hopefully its replayed later tonight.

I didn't hear it but there is the classic story of Michael Jordan playing a stunning first half of basketball for Knight in the Olympics and when they got to the lockerroom Knight laid into Jordan and totally ripped him... leaving the rest of the team to wonder "If he's that mad at Jordan's play, what does he think of mine???"

-Bball

Hicks

02-05-2008, 12:53 AM

I'm not impressed by a coach ripping into a player who played a good first half.....

Shade

02-05-2008, 12:57 AM

I'm not impressed by a coach ripping into a player who played a good first half.....

Imagine how impressed you would have been by that same coach forcing his team to lose by 50 because he didn't like their effort. No joke. It still stings thinking about that game after all these years. Damn Gophers.

tdubb03

02-05-2008, 01:28 AM

Am I the only one who sees all the parallels between Knight's career and No Country For Old Men?

Bball

02-05-2008, 02:16 AM

I'm not impressed by a coach ripping into a player who played a good first half.....

Don't look for me to defend it, but I'm sure the theory was that Michael could take it and the signal it sent to the other players (seeing Michael Jordan torn apart for what they all thought was good play) should really cause them to step up their own games. Maybe even Knight's thinking was that these players as a whole could get more out of this this way than if he lit into the one(s) he really had an issue with (because that player might not take well to direct criticism).

Or... since it is Knight we're talking about... He might've been constipated and just wanted to throw a fit about anything to vent....

For a long time I always thought there was a method to Knight's madness... but I come to believe (especially in the later years) that it was more madness than any method.

And Shade, that Gopher game was the turning point for me.

-Bball

BoomBaby31

02-05-2008, 03:35 AM

I'm pretty sure he did this to ensure that Pat would get a chance to take over the reins.

I think it is basically in the contract Pat takes over when Bob retires.

DisplacedKnick

02-05-2008, 08:23 AM

I think it is basically in the contract Pat takes over when Bob retires.

That may be - but if the team finishes the season poorly - say going 3-8 the rest of the way - it becomes the perfect opportunity for Tech to say, "No thanks Pat."

If BK had finished out the season and Tech had signed Pat to, say, a 3-year deal over the summer, even if he sucked Pat would be due the balance of the contract. Now he gets to finish the year out as an interim and wait over the summer to find out if they really want him or not.

Unless there are some truly unique clauses in BK's deal such as, "Tech guarantees Pat a three year contract for $xxxxx dated from the date of my announced retirement."

avoidingtheclowns

02-05-2008, 10:29 AM

Dan Wetzel has a nice column on Yahoo Sports about Knight. It is fairly lengthy so I just posted a section but you can read the full story by clicking the length.

His closest friends always cringed when the latest flare-up would occur – a thrown chair, a flipped chin, a fight at a salad bar (of all places) serving as red meat to the media and allowing Bob Knight's most incredible accomplishment to be lost in the clouds of controversy.

It's easy to show Knight's drama, of course. It's hard to admit the truth. But before retiring Monday after 42 seasons, 902 victories and three NCAA titles, Knight managed to prove the impossible somehow possible:

The coach who cheated the least won the most.

If you want to be honest about Bob Knight then you have to be honest about college basketball, which means admitting it has been corrupt to the core for decades, a sport where the sinners exponentially outnumber the saints, where no matter how pretty the pig gets painted each March, it's still a pig.

At the elite level, you cheat, you might win. You don't cheat, you'll probably get fired.

That's about it. It really is. Plenty of your coaching "geniuses" are nothing more than smart recruiters eviscerating the NCAA rule book. But don't take my word for it.

"At the national level, the elite level, how many coaches really did it honestly through the years?" said Sonny Vaccaro on Monday. "That's a good question."

Vaccaro spent 43 years virtually inventing and then running grassroots basketball. He staged all-star games and shoe company camps, signed endorsement deals with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and was, at the very least, a sounding board for just about every dirty recruiting deed ever done.

He's not called college basketball's "Godfather" for nothing.

"Because of my role, I know these things," Vaccaro said. "I've heard it all. I've been there for these things."

So how many of the big-time, great ones are or were really, truly clean? Vaccaro spent some time thinking about it, running down national championships won, Final Fours made and coaching careers lionized.

"I guess three coaches, maybe four, I'm not 100 percent sure about one guy," Vaccaro said. "And even among that group, Knight stands alone, stands above. I've never heard a single thing about him, never heard anything. Nothing. He's the cleanest one."

Bob Knight is really good friends with Bill Belichick, so I guess RMK must have some redeeming qualities.

;)

(just kidding, but they are indeed old friends through Parcells, who coached with or against BB's father and of course had BB as an assitant).

I enjoyed the RMK era at IU, admire and respect him as a coach and teacher, love watching his teams play, and wish him well.

I don't think he was blameless in hastening his departure by not toeing the line better with his behavior. face it, he was a jerk at times. I wish he could have been more composed in situations that ultimately damaged his reputation and IU's. Too bad he couldn't reign in the negatives.

Behind the scenes, though, he did many wonderful things too, off the court.

The many negatives are, in the big picture, overshadowed by his accomplishments, winning, teaching, and not falling into the lure of illegal recruiting.

grace

02-05-2008, 06:11 PM

I'm not impressed by a coach ripping into a player who played a good first half.....

Don't look for me to defend it, but I'm sure the theory was that Michael could take it and the signal it sent to the other players (seeing Michael Jordan torn apart for what they all thought was good play) should really cause them to step up their own games. Maybe even Knight's thinking was that these players as a whole could get more out of this this way than if he lit into the one(s) he really had an issue with (because that player might not take well to direct criticism).

Herb Brooks did the same thing with the 1980 Olympic Hockey team leading up to the Olympics. If the 1981 movie "Miracle On Ice" is to be believed Herb would rip into Mike Eruzione when he was mad at the team. Herb told Mike if he called him Eruzione he was really mad at the team but if he called him Mike he was specifically mad at him.

Sure it's mind games, but it worked.

Bball

02-05-2008, 06:11 PM

Unless there are some truly unique clauses in BK's deal such as, "Tech guarantees Pat a three year contract for $xxxxx dated from the date of my announced retirement."

I would've thought any deal already on paper to follow Knight would be in Pat's contract, not Knights....

-Bball

Major Cold

02-06-2008, 12:12 PM

This is a Bob move.

He preaches self-discipline to his players, yet he can't control his anger.

He preaches that his players have respect, yet shows no repect towards them.

He preaches loyalty to the team, yet bails on his team after he gets his 900th win.

Bob Knight the walking Hypocrite.

Bball

02-06-2008, 03:15 PM

Herb Brooks did the same thing with the 1980 Olympic Hockey team leading up to the Olympics. If the 1981 movie "Miracle On Ice" is to be believed Herb would rip into Mike Eruzione when he was mad at the team. Herb told Mike if he called him Eruzione he was really mad at the team but if he called him Mike he was specifically mad at him.

Sure it's mind games, but it worked.

I think you're talking about the documentary that played on HBO (Disney had a more recent movie starring Kurt Russel). That's an excellent documentary (provided we're talking about the same thing). The later Disney movie (was it just called "Miracle?") stayed pretty true to the documentary, but the documentary is just excellent viewing for anyone that is a sucker for a "David vs Goliath" type drama.

To me, the documentary is as good as any movie along the same themes... except it's real. I might have to pull the DVD out and watch it again now that you've got me thinking about it again.

-Bball

grace

02-06-2008, 04:16 PM

No, I'm talking about the movie from '81 where Karl Malden played Herb Brooks and Andrew Stevens played Mike Eruzione. I forgot it was just a TV movie.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082754/

BoomBaby31

02-19-2008, 03:42 AM

On the Texas Tech Pat Knight Show. It had Bob Knight at the beginning explaining he didn't look at it as retiring or resigning or quiting he was simply stepping down to let Pat Knight take over, which has been planned for along time. So maybe we will See him back at a real basketball school. Hey, We might have an opening lol